At least 296 Palestinian children have been killed so far in an IDF operation in the Gaza Strip, UN says. The continued bombardment took 84 lives on Saturday alone, with Israeli PM saying that destroying Hamas’ tunnels is not the ultimate goal after all.

“Children make up for 30 percent of the civilian
casualties,” said UNICEF, adding the toll is only rising.
“The number of child casualties during the last 48 hours may
rise as a number of incidents are pending verification,” it
said in a statement.

Breaking down the numbers, UNICEF reported that confirmed
casualties so far include 187 boys and 109 girls – with at least
203 of them under the age of 12.

At least 1,670 Palestinians in the Gaza enclave have been killed
as Israel-Hamas fighting enters its 27 day, Palestinian health
officials say, with more than 8,900 being wounded in IDF shelling
from the air, land, and sea. Furthermore UNRWA estimated that up
to 25 percent of Gaza's population of 1.8 million are now
displaced.

Israel says that fighting with Hamas already took the lives of 63
soldiers, while another three civilians died from Hamas rockets.

Meanwhile the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned
Hamas that it will “pay an intolerable price” if it
continues to attack Israel, promising to fight as long as
necessary.

“After completing the operation against the tunnels, the
military will prepare for our continuing action according to our
security needs and only according to our security needs, until we
obtain the objective of returning security to you the citizens of
Israel,” Netanyahu said, adding that Israel prefers a
diplomatic solution, but will keep all military options open.

Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum dismissed the Israeli leader's
remarks as "confused.” "We will continue to resist until we
achieve our goals," he said.

Israel refused to take part in planned ceasefire talks, after a
72-hour humanitarian truce was broken on Friday. Earlier
Saturday, Israeli cabinet minister, Yuval Steinitz, said that
Hamas has violated ceasefire deals and that “this leads us to
the conclusion that with this organization there is no point
speaking” about any halt to hostilities, AP reports.

Another senior Israeli officials said, according to Haaretz, that
the Israeli Cabinet still thinks it has “enough international
legitimacy for an operation in Gaza.”

The official added that if the government feels that
“deterrence has been restored,” the IDF will leave the
Gaza Strip on the basis of the “quiet for quiet' principle,”
but otherwise will “continue the operation inside the Gaza Strip
or exit and continue with the aerial bombardment.”

In rebuttal to Steinitz comments, Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri
said that even a unilateral Israeli withdrawal would not
“commit” the group to anything and Israel will
“pay” in any case, Ma’an reports.

“The resistance could fight on despite the fact that they
have been fighting for 27 days,” Abu Zuhri said. “They
either stay in Gaza and pay the price, unilaterally retreat and
pay, or negotiate and pay.”

On Saturday, Israel intensified its campaign in Gaza, blaming
Hamas for violating the ceasefire by capturing an Israeli
soldier. The militant organization denied the claims, saying the
Israeli was probably killed in Israeli shelling, which began with
intense bombing the Rafah area, with medics claiming the death of
114 people in 24 hours, AP reports.

Tel Aviv claimed the Israeli military is focusing its search for
the missing soldier on the outskirts of Rafah, a city of 71,000
Palestinians. Meanwhile, Gaza medical authorities said Saturday's
death toll had risen to 84, as Israeli forces continued their
bombardment of the besieged coastal enclave.